Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsAfter one year, unreliable service and horrible customer support
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2019
The design on these collars is brilliant, so it's a shame that they don't work at all for me. The tracking unit is contained either in a pouch on any flat collar OR fits into a custom slot on the leather version. The unit comes with a base station that uses bluetooth to connect to both the collar and phone app, and doubles as the charging unit and firmware update station. Then, of course, there's the phone app. There's no option for a desktop/computer tracking feature.
Set up for my first collar was fine. I downloaded the app, put in my credit card info to get a data plan, and set up the tracker and base station. I'd get 2-3 days of battery between charges, and the app warned me if the charge was getting low.
I got my first collar to deal with my escape artist dog. I live in a rural area, but data coverage didn't seem to be a problem and I was able to find him after a handful of escapes during the first six or so months using the app. Unfortunately, following an update late in 2018, the collar no longer tracked. At all. If my dog left the yard, I would be alerted by the bluetooth proximity alarm that he had left, but I was on my own to find him.
Thinking the collar had somehow gotten damaged internally, I purchased a second one to replace the first, as well as collars for my other dogs as a safety precaution. I ended up taking the collars out on a test run to be sure they were all working. I left my phone (the app tracks by both charging station and bluetooth proximity to your phone with the app on it) with a friend then started driving with the GPS unit in my car. I went several miles away. The tracking app notified my buddy when I left the house with the collar, but at no point in over an hour could it locate the unit in Lost Mode. I even took it into a busy town to try this out and had the same problem. It's not an issue of rural vs town data coverage -- this sucker flat out didn't work, brand new from box.
At this point, I was pretty irritated and sent all of the collars back. Now, I had to cancel the data plans for the original collar, plus the three new collars (~$40/month). Fun facts -- while you can set up the entire paid data plan on your phone, update a credit card, and so forth, you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT CANCEL OR TRANSFER IT without calling Link AKC. Alright, no problem; but the business hours are incredibly limited -- Monday through Friday, EST time. Since I work, it was very difficult to call, and each time I did, I got disconnected or left on hold for long periods of time. So I sent an email. The reply told me I must call and they couldn't help me via email, but they could schedule a time to call me directly. I was still unable to get through while calling and, increasingly irritated, finally had to cancel my credit card to end four monthly recurring payments on defective products. Only once I had informed them, in detail, of the difficulties I was having, did I receive call back directly from the company and it involved them calling at six in the freaking morning, well after I'd returned everything. Not impressed.
You'd think that would be the end of it, given that I'd given written notice and cancelled the card after returning the collars to Amazon, but no. The company somehow got my new card information from my bank and has continued charging me.
Tracking unit -- durable, water resistant. Held up fine to my dog rough-housing with my other dogs. Battery life following a firmware update in late 2018 (which was purported to increase charge longevity) reduced it to less than 24 hours.
Collar attachment (sport model) -- it's made of fabric and fell apart within a few months. I made one myself, but there's no way to get a replacement; if your dog chews through the leather collar, you're in trouble because there's no way to attach this sucker without making a pouch for it.
Charging station -- worked well to track my dog when in bluetooth range. Firmware updates frequently failed for days on end without explanation.
App -- well designed, but drains battery LIKE CRAZY. My phone could go from 100% to 0% in a matter of hours, and the app MUST be open to track your dog or send you notifications if they get out of the yard. The app is fairly accurate in bluetooth mode, but had zero accuracy on data in Lost Mode.
Customer service -- an actual joke.
I actually cannot say enough how little I recommend this company. Sorry folks. Brilliant design concept; horrific execution.
